Wheeler Farm Loops

james and i had a looong debate this morning -- sparked from a combination of this piece and the color run/parade article that josh posted yesterday.

we talked about the importance of both winning and losing and experiencing both sides of the coin throughout life (no matter the scale -- bananagrams to the olympic 100m final). there are valuable things to be learned from both situations, but it's the mistakes/failures/losses where we learn and grow the most. we all have our own definitions for success and failure in any given area, but i think we can all agree that failing does not feel good, and this drives us to improve and work toward being the best we can be in whatever area we are seeking success.

i am always telling my students that mistakes are okay -- if they didn't make mistakes, i wouldn't have a job. and they wouldn't have a reason to be in school. every time they make a mistake or something fails (exploding cakes, etc.) -- that's the best opportunity to learn. we talk about what went wrong and why. they analyze, reflect, learn from it, and move forward with a whole lot more knowledge than if they had just done everything perfectly the first time around (or worse, just been told that it was perfect when it wasn't).

Well said. I agree with everything you said. I can definitely say that I've learned more from failure... and more from failure in SPORTS than anything else. That's why I think (competitive) sports are so important.

You should submit this comment as an op-ed to the Westminister College student newspaper (ie. The "NY Times of 1300E")

Really great stuff here. Thanks Jake for the quote and Allie for the insightful feedback. I most definitely agree. It is the failures that drive us, humble us, and ultimately keep us moving forward in running and in life. Without the setbacks the successes wouldn't be nearly as fulfilling.

I like the idea of boycotting participation trophies.

In my school in England, EVERYTHING was turned into a competition (think of the Harry Potter books and the house cup). We generally didn't get grades , but exceptional work, as judged by the teacher, was awarded 'house points'.

I've told my students "Trying is the first step towards failure, but failure is the first step towards success"

Read this article on Letsrun and really liked it. I don't have any of the youth soccer trophies I got growing up but I still have the 8th place ribbon I got in 7th grade for the mile. That ribbon meant more to me at the time than any trophy I had gotten for playing any sport because I worked hard and earned that ribbon.

I agree with everything except exploding cakes.

My son is goalie on the absolute worst soccer team in Utah. After every game while he is crying all the way home I just tell him "just think how much more practice you are getting than that other goalie." Next year you'll be the best goalie in the state. It doesn't make him feel any better but I think it's probably true.

Good point. The goalie on a really good youth soccer team is probably not getting his or her 10,000 hours of practice.

I had a professor in my MBA program that made his final exam extremely difficult. He told us that the class average should be in the low to mid 60s. The students immediately fretted over the exam. He followed up by saying not to worry he grades on a curve, but he still wants the exam to be extremely difficult so that he knows when a student is truly head and shoulders above the rest. That way he can write a letter of recommendation for his top students that they won't get from any other professor, where he can say they were 2-3 standard deviations above the class average.

I loved that he did that. Everyone else hated on him, but I thought it was brilliant. MBA programs have bought into this everyone should pass as long as they show up and turn in their work. And I think it becomes unfair to those who really excel. An A doesn't really mean anything anymore.

Why strive to turn in the best project or homework assignment possible if you know you can get an A by handing in less than your best effort?

It's the same with trophies (and in running finisher's medals). Many people just want the medals and don't care how fast they run. But what if you gave certain medals for certain times? Then you may get people to try harder.

In today's racing environment you are going to lose participants and money if you don't give finisher's medals (sad, but true). So, why not at least color-code them (or give different sizes)? If you finish under 5:00 you get this medal, 4:00 gets you a different color, 3:00 another etc. At least then participants have a realistic goal they can set to try and reach the next level of medal. "Last year I ran 4:12 and got the 4-4:59 medal, this year I want that 3-3:59 medal, so I'm going to train a bit harder". I think it could be a fair compromise between the everyone's a winner crowd and the you should have to earn your medal/trophy crowd. It could kind of be like colored belts in karate. Everyone gets a belt, but each belt represents a different level of achievement and prestige. So kids want to move up to the next belt, but at the same time should be proud of the belts they've had to earn up to the present time.

As for losing/failure being a good thing...I couldn't agree more.

Without failures and losing we become complacent. Failures and losing drives us to greater levels than we ever thought possible if we don't give up and keep trying our best.

I may or may not have the breakthrough marathon I've been looking for next week, but either way I have to admit that my previous marathon failures have driven me to where I am now and looking back I am grateful for those disappointments. I don't know if I'd be this fast today without them.

Riley- what you suggest is done at Comrades marathon. They have many different medals based on place and finishing time, and people really strive for the improved awards (even though the medals themselves are cheap and small). It's the challenge and the conquering that drives them.

Colin Cowherd had a great quote this morning on his radio show...

"No kid ends up on the therapists couch because they lost 35-0 in a little league game"

Incentives like described above are great. Even look at something simple like Boston qualifying... they lower the times, some people complain, but even more people qualify. I bet they could lower them another 5 minutes and would easily fill the fields.